Prof Chuck Holmes, The Common Sense Economist

About The Common Sense Economist

Dr Chuck Having Common sense

Charles W. Holmes applied for Aviation Cadet flight training and entered the United States Air Force on December 31, 1953. He was awarded his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant on March 30, 1955. After a tour in Korea flying the C-47 “Goonie Bird” and two years in troop carrier operations, he was drafted into the Strategic Air Command and the B-52 program in 1959, where he stayed for the rest of his career. He accomplished over 7,500 flying hours with over 5,000 hours in the B-52, transitioning from copilot through first pilot to instructor pilot. He remained an active instructor pilot even when he was relieved from combat crew status and assigned to a staff position where he “flew a desk.” He completed four combat tours during the Vietnam War, three of which were temporary duty tours of six months each flying as a combat crewmember from Guam, Okinawa, and Utapao Royal Thai Air Base. He was then assigned to Utapao for a year as a staff member. He completed 236 combat missions, receiving eleven Air Medals, the Bronze Star, and Distinguished Flying Cross. He says, “Then I got smart and retired as soon as I could.”

After returning to civilian life he entered Florida State University to take education courses and qualify for a teaching certificate in mathematics. He was awarded a masters degree in 1975. He was awarded a teaching fellowship and received his Doctor of Philosophy in education finance in 1976. He worked as an analyst with the BDM Corporation in Washington, D.C., doing important contract work with the government. He returned to academia with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he taught economics and was the senior scientist, and later director, of the Aviation Research Center where he was again working contracts with the federal government. As contracts began to wind down with the economic cycle, he attained an appointment to Bainbridge College, a unit of the University System of Georgia. He taught economics and statistics for twenty years. Chuck is now retired as Professor of Economics Emeritus.

Chuck and His wife Merelyn have been married 55 years and live in a waterfront condo in Gulf Shores, Alabama.